Disney Home Entertainment Ups Q1 Revenue 6%

9 May, 2017 By: Erik Gruenwedel

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New retail releases Moana and Doctor Strange contributed to Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment reporting first-quarter (ended April 1) revenue of $419 million, up 6% from revenue of $396 million during the previous-year period.

The increase in home entertainment results was also due to higher average net effective pricing reflecting a higher sales mix of new-release and Blu-ray Disc titles.

Moana (released March 7 on disc) and Doctor Strange (Feb. 28) compared favorably with The Good Dinosaur (Feb. 23, 2016), Inside Out and Ant-Man in the prior-year quarter. The results were partially offset by lower unit sales of "Star Wars" classic titles.

The Good Dinosaur has generated $58.5 million in disc sales, including $29.7 million in Blu-ray and $28.7 million in DVD, according to The-Numbers.com.

Overall, Disney studio operating income increased 21% to $656 million on revenue of $2 billion. The quarter benefited from lower pre-release marketing costs and the strong performance of Beauty and the Beast.

However, these benefits were offset when comparing the theatrical performances of Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Zootopia in the prior-year quarter with Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Moana in the current quarter.

Indeed, Star Wars: The Force Awakens remains the top-grossing domestic theatrical release in history. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is ranked seventh all-time domestically.

In addition, TV/SVOD distribution revenue (i.e. licensing and original production) dipped 3% to $905 million, from $934 million a year ago.

Disney attributed the decline to a 8% decrease from lower revenue share with the consumer products and interactive media division, the latter citing due stronger “Star Wars” and “Frozen” merchandise sales in the prior-year quarter.

This decrease was partially offset by an increase of 5% from TV/SVOD distribution primarily from international growth and higher domestic rates, partially offset by the timing of domestic title availabilities.

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